Halloween Blog Hop ~ Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of the Halloween Blog Hop! If you just happened upon my blog today you can start at Angela's Blog to hop from the beginning. If you came here from Becky's Blog you are in the right place!

There are a number of reasons that I love Halloween, the first is that it shares the same month as my birthday! I also love dressing up and now dressing up my kids too. It also happens to be in the fall which here near Chicago, IL is just GORGEOUS this time of year.

For today's project I decided to show a little Halloween Decor that I made last fall. When we were pulling all of the stuff out of the boxes this little beauty popped up and I decided she had aged quite well, and I like her even more!


I cut this frame and silhouette from the Happy Hauntings cartridge, have I mentioned how much I LOVE this cartridge? I used a vellum as my background piece to let the light shine through and really pop the silhouette!


I originally cut the witch out of plain orange card stock and it looked okay but I felt it needed something... so I grabbed my Xyron 510 sticker maker and my Martha Stewart copper glitter. I just ran the cut through my Xyron upside down so the FRONT would be covered with adhesive. Then I coated it with the glitter. LOVE this trick! Then I popped her up with some Helmar black Zap Dots for a little dimension. I also popped the bats on the side of the frame up also.


I think this turned out really cool and I love the way it looks in the window too.
Your next stop on the hop is Nicole's Blog but before you hop away, become a follower and leave me a comment and you will be entered to win my Blog Candy - a Treat Bag with some Spooky Scrapbooking Treats! Check back tomorrow for another great project!

Kimi's Baby Shower Blog Hop!

Welcome to Kimi's Baby Shower Blog Hop! If you are here for the Happy Halloween Blog Hop, scroll down one post (or stay and check out this hop too). If you are just happening upon my page this lovely fall morning and you want to start the hop from the beginning, head over to Pam's Blog to start from the beginning!

As some of my regular readers may know, I am blessed with 2 beautiful daughters who are now 5 and 2, and my scraproom is filled with many, many pink papers. So when I heard that Kimi was having a girl I was excited to get to play with more pink paper! I decided to do a first feeding layout because those are some of my favorite photos of my own daughters. The faces that babies make when tasting real "food" for the first time usually run the gamut from displeasure to thoughtfulness to joy in mere seconds so it's a fun time to be camera ready! I made sure there was plenty of room for photos, of course!


The large pink block in the center of the layout can hold either 3 vertical 4" x 6" photos, or 6 horizontal 4" x 3" photos. Then I added another space for a horizontal 4" x 6" photo on the side.



I made this mat a pocket so that the journaling about baby's first foods can be tucked away a bit so the focus is on those great photos where it belongs! The adorable baby girl is from the Cricut Baby Steps cartridge and I used a Peachy Keen Stamp for her face. Both the spoon she is holding and the spoon in the top left of the layout are cut from silver mirror paper (which is really hard to tell in the photos).


I also used the Baby Steps Cartridge to cut the title "Fun Food" and hand wrote the word "with" with my silver glitter pen so it now reads "Fun with Food"! I had so much fun creating this layout and I hope Kimi is as thrilled with it as I am!

We all have a message for Kimi... use this letter - S - and continue through the blogs to get the full message. Leave your message on the last blog for a chance at some awesome Blog Candy!

The next stop in this hop is Martha's Blog and before you hop away, make sure you are a follower of my blog and leave me a comment and you will be entered to win a great Blog Candy prize on my blog too! I'm giving a super sweet party favor to one lucky hopper - a goody bag with the stuff to create a mini album for yourself!

Halloween Blog Hop ~ Day 1

Welcome to Day 1 of the Halloween Blog Hop! If you just happened upon my blog today you can start at Angela's Blog to hop from the beginning. If you came here from Becky's Blog you are in the right place!

There are a number of reasons that I love Halloween, the first is that it shares the same month as my birthday! I also love dressing up and now dressing up my kids too. It also happens to be in the fall which here near Chicago, IL is just GORGEOUS this time of year.

For today's project I decided to create a fun little treat box for my 5 1/2 year old daughter. Her latest obsession is Monster High and for Halloween she is going to dress as her favorite character, Draculaura.


The coffin treat box was really simple to make with my Happy Hauntings Cricut Cartridge and some plain black cardstock. Draculaura loves pink and black and girly things so I added so hot pink glitter ribbon to the edge of the box lid with my Scor Tape. Then I added the lace ruffle to the inside of the lid with more Scor Tape. Then I cut my "D" from the Elegant Cake Cricut Cartridge from White Glitter Paper and tied a bow with the same pink ribbon. I will fill it up with some Gummy Body Parts and slip it into her Trick or Treat bag on Halloween! I'm sure she will scream.... with delight!


Your next stop on the hop is Martha's Blog but before you hop away, become a follower and leave me a comment and you will be entered to win my Blog Candy - a Treat Bag with some Spooky Scrapbooking Treats! Check back tomorrow for another great project!

What I LOVE About Fall/Halloween Blog Hop ~ Day 2

Welcome to the What I Love About Fall/Halloween Blog Hop ~ Day 2! This hop is scheduled from Oct. 7 at 8:00am through Oct. 8 at 11:00pm CST.

If you just happened to drop by my blog today, you can start at the beginning with Lisa's Blog. If you just came from Vicki's Blog, then you are in the right spot!

We're so excited to be doing this hop and we have a fabulous lineup with some very talented ladies. There will be lots of fun projects, along with some great blog candy, and a great Grand Prize for this hop.

The hop is a 2 day hop so you will have plenty of time to make it through the whole hop lineup twice. Check out each blog and see what blog candy you can win at the individual stops. Please come back both days to see great projects.

For today's project I made this super cute paper pumpkin! I saw the recipe on The Kraft Journal Blog and she picked up the original instructions from Archivers! When I saw it I knew I had to make one too...


Isn't it the cutest? The rosettes are pretty easy to make. You simply cut your Bazzill cardstock (from Michaels Crafts) strips to size, score them every 1/2" with the Martha Stewart Score Board (also found at Michaels), and then accordion fold your score lines. Then you adhere them together end to end with Scor Tape (love it because you can tear it rather than cut it). Then flatten them and kind of squeeze them into a circle shape. Then you glue a 1 1/2" circle to each side using a hot glue gun. It takes a little practice but once you've made a couple it goes pretty quickly. You need 8 sheets of orange cardstock, 1 sheet of Kraft cardstock and any inks and embellishments you want to use!


So here's the measurements for any of you who are interested in making one of your own:
Top Rosette: 2 strips at 1 1/2" x 12"
2nd Rosette: 3 strips at 2 3/4" x 12"
3nd Rosette: 3 strips at 3" x 12"
4th Rosette: 3 strips at 3 1/4" x 12"
5th Rosette: 3 strips at 3 1/4" x 12"
6th Rosette: 3 strips at 3 1/2" x 12"
7th Rosette: 3 strips at 3 1/4" x 12"
8th Rosette: 3 strips at 3 1/4" x 12"
9th Rosette: 3 strips at 2 1/2" x 12"
Last Rosette: 2 strips at 1 3/4" x 12"

Stem: 3 strips at 1 1/2" x 12" fringed - you can make this taller or shorter depending on your preference. I used the Martha Stewart Fringing Scissors and it made this job really quick! I was originally going to add glitter to this one but decided to make another in black in a few days (when my hands have recovered from all the scoring and folding) and glitter-fy that one...


Here is the complete lineup:

Lisa's Blog
Lisa P's Blog
Kristy's Blog
April's Blog
Jamie's Blog
Anita's Blog
Sher B.'s Blog
Amy's Blog
Gina's Blog
Dena's Blog
Melinda's Blog
Shannon's Blog
Janet's Blog
Tammy's Blog
Barbara's Blog
Christina's Blog
Kari's Blog
Theresa's Blog
Vicki's Blog
Mandie's Blog - You are HERE
Suzanne's Blog
Jearise's Blog

To be eligible for the grand prize, you must visit each blog and leave a comment at each stop. Also if you have a Facebook account, please go "Like" Scrapping With Lisa"s Facebook Page HERE. Besides the Grand Prize that Lisa mentioned at the beginning of the hop you can also win a fun Goodie Bag on my page to! Make sure you leave me a comment both days and I will choose one winner each day!

Your next stop is Suzanne's Blog! Go see what awesome project she has in store for you after you leave your comment here!

Have a great day and please stop back tomorrow for another great project!

What I LOVE About Fall/Halloween Blog Hop ~ Day 1

Welcome to the What I Love About Fall/Halloween Blog Hop. This hop is scheduled from Oct. 7 at 8:00am through Oct. 8 at 11:00pm CST.

If you just happened to drop by my blog today, you can start at the beginning with Lisa's Blog. If you just came from Vicki's Blog, then you are in the right spot!

We're so excited to be doing this hop and we have a fabulous lineup with some very talented ladies. There will be lots of fun projects, along with some great blog candy, and a great Grand Prize for this hop.

The hop is a 2 day hop so you will have plenty of time to make it through the whole hop lineup twice. Check out each blog and see what blog candy you can win at the individual stops. Please come back both days to see great projects.


For the hop I have created this picture frame from some scraps I had left of Echo Park Apothecary Emporium. I created a Paper Bag Album using the 6" x 6" paper pad that you can see HERE. So I had a lot of odd shaped scraps and I decided that I would make a patchwork frame by Mod Podge-ing them to my frame. I painted the edges with black acrylic paint before I adhered all my pieces. Then I inked around the edges of the whole frame to distress it a bit. Finally I added my floral embellishment because things just don't feel "finished" to me without flowers, buttons and/or ribbon!

Here is the complete lineup:

Lisa's Blog
Lisa P's Blog
Kristy's Blog
April's Blog
Jamie's Blog
Anita's Blog
Sher B.'s Blog
Amy's Blog
Gina's Blog
Dena's Blog
Melinda's Blog
Shannon's Blog
Janet's Blog
Tammy's Blog
Barbara's Blog
Christina's Blog
Kari's Blog
Theresa's Blog
Vicki's Blog
Mandie's Blog - You are HERE
Suzanne's Blog
Jearise's Blog

To be eligible for the grand prize, you must visit each blog and leave a comment at each stop. Also if you have a Facebook account, please go "Like" Scrapping With Lisa"s Facebook Page HERE. Besides the Grand Prize that Lisa mentioned at the beginning of the hop you can also win a fun Goodie Bag on my page to! Make sure you leave me a comment both days and I will choose one winner each day!

Your next stop is Suzanne's Blog! Go see what awesome project she has in store for you after you leave your comment here!

Have a great day and please stop back tomorrow for another great project!

Operation Write Home Blog Hop!

I'm so honored to be a part of this AMAZING blog hop for Operation Write Home! I wanted to keep my card fairly simple so it is easy to make in larger quantities, but I also wanted to make it beautiful! So, I pulled out my Graphic 45 Christmas Emporium papers and made this simply beautiful card:


I added a tiny bit of sparkle with a couple of Spica Pens, which is embedded glitter that will not flake off. We don't want to accidentally endanger our troops! It's hard to see in the photo but in person this card shines. Thanks for checking out my card today! You can hop to the next blog in the line-up by clicking on the link below:

An Oldie but Goodie and a Winner!

I just wanted to say a big "THANK YOU" to all of you who hopped along our Echo Park Paper Blog Hop over the weekend! I hope that we inspired you to play with your paper too. Remember, Kim has lots of beautiful Echo Park Paper for sale in the Cutters Creek online store. You can click HERE to buy some of your favorites!


This "BOO" sign is one that I created last Halloween with the Echo Park Happy Halloween line. I bought the wood letters at JoAnne Fabrics and painted them black. Then I Mod Podged the letters with some of my favorite sheets of the patterned paper. I really wish the D'Stress tool was out then, it would have been handy for sanding the edges! Then I used my Cricut and the Happy Hauntings cartridge to cut a variety of shapes, as well as the stickers from the collection kit to decorate the letters. Then I added the ribbon to hang it and promptly hung it by my front door. I'm looking forward to pulling this out of the box again this year!

You could easily create a beautiful sign for your home with any of the great Echo Park Paper Collection Kits that are available in the Cutters Creek store! I'm thinking that I want to use either the Season's Greetings or Holly Jolly Kit to create something special for Christmas...

Now, I bet you are wondering WHO my blog winner is....

I used random.org to select my winner and it decided that this one looked like a good number....


And that person is...


Congrats, Joni! I will be emailing you shortly for your information. Thanks again to all of you that hopped and welcome to my new followers!

Brew Crew Layout with Echo Park Paper

Today I have a layout that I created using my FAVORITE Echo Park Paper Collection - Happy Days! I am in love with the vintage flavor that these papers have.


I started with a Kraft Cardstock base and used 5" x 5" squares of the Happy Days paper for my background. Then I simply mounted all of my photos (2 - 4" x 5", 1 = 4" x 6") to a couple of cardstock strips and lined them up on my paper. (Note - the only change I would have made would have been to not line this up right in the middle, I had to cut my daughters face in the photo). I used my Pink ATG to adhere every thing. Then I cut the title "Brew Crew" from the Nifty Fifties Cricut Cartridge and ran the letters through my Xyron 150 to add the adhesive. It's a quick and easy way to add your adhesive and there's no mess! I used the stickers in the Happy Days kit to spell out my other words and then added a few embellishments from my stash with Glue Dots. Finally I added my journaling with the Inkssentials White Pen. I'm really happy with how this layout turned out, but Echo Park's gorgeous papers make it easy to create works of art!

Cutters Creek Echo Park Blog Hop!

Welcome to stop #2 on the Cutters Creek Echo Park Blog Hop! You should have come here from the Cutters Creek Design Team Blog, if not you can pop over there to start at the beginning. Today I used one of my favorite Echo Park Paper collections, Apothecary Emporium. I used the 6 x 6 Paper Pad because I like the smaller scale of the patterns for my little book.


I put together a basic paper bag album and used my Pink ATG and Scor Tape to assemble it. I always make sure to use a good quality adhesive so that my creation will last a long time!


I used my Cricut and the Happy Halloween cartridge to cut a variety of spooky shapes to decorate my album.


For these pages, I added Glossy Accents to the tree on the patterned paper to really make it pop! For the Spider, I actually covered him with Glossy Accents and sprinkled Black Flocking Powder over it while it was wet. I made sure I used my Bazzill Splat Mat under it so it wouldn't stick to anything while it dried. Once it dried, I added googly eyes with a dot of Glossy Accents.


To get the bit of orange on the left side page I masked off a section and sprayed a couple of Glimmer Mist colors to get just the right orange-y color since I didn't have just the right color on hand. I also used it all over the small piece of paper on the center flap because I really wanted more orange in my book. It's a great way to alter papers and add a bit of sparkle!


I also used a lot of Black Soot Distress Ink on my book too. I distressed the edges of just about everything I added!


There are large tags throughout the book in the pockets of the pages but I decided to add one more at the end. I cut the tombstone shape from the Happy Hauntings Cricut Cartridge and also the skeleton. I used the Inkssentials White Gel Pen and a Sakura Stardust Pure Glitter Pen to accent my tag as well.


For the back of the album I cut the phrases from the Happy Hauntings Cricut Cartridge from Glossy White Cardstock. I used the same Glimmer Mist combination to spray it orange so I have sparkle and shine!

I had so much fun creating this book, I can't WAIT to make another! Make sure you are following my blog and leave me a comment and you will not only qualify for the Grand Prize for the hop, you will also be entered to win my own personal blog candy... the 6 x 6 Victoria Gardens Paper Pad! When you're done, hop on over to Lori's Blog to check out her amazing project! Here's the hop line up if you get lost along the way:

Cutters Creek Blog (Chris)
Mandie's Blog - You are Here!
Lori's Blog
Deanna's Blog
Mindy's Blog
Laura's Blog
Melissa's Blog
Kim's Blog

Echo Park Cool Cat

Today I have a quick and easy card that I made using one of the papers from the Echo Park Papers Happy Days Collection!


I love these beautiful papers! The vintage 50's style of these papers is one of my favorites so I grabbed my Nifty Fifty's Cricut Cartridge and cut this awesome "Cool Cat" shape. The background paper is a mirror finish paper that I have been hoarding for quite some time!


I think this is a great any occasion card and I'm planning on creating a few more to put together as a gift set for some one special!

Come back tomorrow to check out the FABULOUS Cutters Creek Blog Hop! All of the designers have made some great projects using Echo Park Papers! Rumor has it there may be prizes involved...

Michaels Classes Announcement

For those of you that don't know I am a Certified Scrapbooking Instructor for Michaels Stores. We have a TON of new, exciting classes and I can't wait to teach them! Just wanted to give a little preview of a SMALL portion of the Halloween Party class.


In the Halloween Party class we will create a banner, invitation, table decor and favor boxes as well as a layout to commemorate your party!

I hold classes Thursday and Friday evenings and can always work with you if you want to arrange a class for a private group! Here is the September Class Schedule with a brief class description (just click to make it bigger):


I'm hoping to add a calender to my blog soon that will have all of my classes listed on it!

To sign up for any of these fun classes just head over to the Michaels in New Lenox to register! I hope to see you there! Oh, and CROP NIGHT is only $5!

Fun With Summer Days!

I just wanted to share a few things that I have made with the awesome Echo Park Paper Summer Days line! This line is sooooo cute and has such fun colors, it really feels like summer!


I have been using the amazing Scrapbook Generation Sketchbooks a lot lately and I really like how my pages turn out! The sketch for this one isn't my typical style AND I decided on a WHITE background... how strange, even for me! But I LOVE the finished layout and am so glad I decided to go outside of my comfort zone a bit. So where can you get these AMAZING sketch books as well as all of the NEWEST papers??? So glad you asked! You can buy them from my new on-line store, Pink Whimsy! That's right just click HERE and it will take you right to the page to begin shopping. Or click any of the hyperlinks I have listed with the product info!


I made this quick card with the Once Upon A Time Cricut cartridge and my beautiful Summer Days papers. It came together really quick and I used an Action Wobble to make my cone Wiggle Jiggle! They are so much fun to play with! I thought this would be a fun Birthday or even Just Because card!

In celebration of my new business I am giving away some fun goodies from my CHA stash! Make sure you are following my blog and leave a comment on this post to be entered to win a fun prize! Want to double your chances of winning? Check out yesterday's blog post too! Keep checking back because I have lots to giveaway and lots to share with you too!!!

Echo Park and Ecstasy Crafts Card

Welcome to another edition of Tutorial Tuesday for the Cutters Creek Design Team blog! Today I decided to play with a few of my favorite products: Echo Park Paper, Ecstasy Crafts Kits and Flower Soft!


I assembled this adorable little penguin image from the Christmas Penguins and Hedgehogs Set from Ecstasy Crafts. I love the adorable characters on this sheet! It only took me a couple of minutes to layer this little penguin with the Joy! Foam Pads. Then I grabbed my Flower Soft Glue (after a short hunt all over my desk for it) and my Polar White Flower Soft and added it to the white parts of his hat to make it extra fuzzy!


For the card I used the Echo Park Paper Winter Wonderland set. Cutters Creek is currently sold out of that line BUT the new Holly Jolly kit will be in stock soon and it's another GORGEOUS kit! I just used the "Merry Christmas" words from one of the border sheets and added a little of the peppermint paper and of course inked my edges in black to make it pop and in just a few minutes I have another Christmas card finished and ready to send in just a few short months!

If you are a follower of my blog, leave me a comment and you will be entered to win a fun prize from my CHA goodie bag!

The winner of my Westcott Scissors giveaway was.... Lucky #13 - CATHY!!!! I'll be emailing you shortly... congrats!

Confessions of a Paper Ho - Part 3

I still can't get over how FAST the days fly by at CHA! Did I mention that we were also in the middle of some record setting HEAT days? Yeah, glad the convention was indoors! So here's some more of the fun we had:


Here's me doing a Make and Take and the We Are Memory Keepers booth. It was a really cute Halloween treat bag! The super nice person working the booth also gave us each one of the new adorable Heart Shaped Ink Pads in SILVER!


I really loved the October Afternoon booth! The fun saloon set up was just ADORABLE and all for their new lines are YUMMY!


Outside the Provo Craft meet and greet for Bloggers I ran into Jess from Kinderstampo! She is just as sweet in real life as she seems on-line! She was one of the instructors for the McGill Punch classes and check out these SHOES...


Yeah, these shoes are covered in PAPER!!!! Yeah, I was pretty amazed too!!!


I just had to share this super-fancy bathroom on the upper floor of the convention center! The one downstairs is tiny, dark and cramped...


We were also lucky enough to score tickets to the CHA Diva's event! Free food and music with a Diva twist... the band was not super but we made up for that with a LOT of laughter! Above is the crew from the Westcott Brand booth, they were behind us in line at the photo booth. I need to get the copy of our crazy Cutters Creek photo scanned in soon!


While waiting to pick up our photos we had a bit of fun on our own... here's Kim, lighting up the room with her... smile :)


Here's Laura and her awesome candle... that's right, she STOLE the centerpiece from our table, shh! Just kidding, she WON the center piece and got to take home her very own Brittany Spears candle! I bet it has a place of honor on her mantle...


Lori and I are just a crazy duo and by this time had like 20 new inside jokes... we we created #21 when I said "Ready, Set.... Do something STUPID" which lead to 3 tries to get this pic... LOL!


Yep, this is me the Party Animal! Occasionally I do get out from behind the camera...


After the Diva Event, Lori and I headed back to our room to pack. Here is a look at our prize winning Minute To Craft it Creations! Lori won a TON of Plaid Fabric Paints and Jewelry components for her Shrine and I won a Spellbinders Presto Punch and 3 Sets of Dies for my Multi-Media Canvas! Not to shabby for a 10 minute, no preparation craft project!!!


So we packed up our goodies... and yes, these tote backs are all full of the SWAG we scored... seriously!

Of course I was sooooo busy having a BALL in Nana Campana's Bind It All class that I totally FORGOT to take pictures!!!! Let me tell you she is an AMAZING instructor and I was LUCKY to be in 2 of her classes!!!! The Bind it All one and the Echo Park Papers class! I made two GORGEOUS mini-albums which I will share another day...


After our first amazing class we headed over for a Meet and Greet with Sarah from the Pink Cricut blog and Jess from the Kinderstampo blog!


So the final day of the show is also the shortest! And it seriously flew by with all we had left to do and see. We got to do a Make and Take at Graphic 45's Booth... a CHA First for them! I made a spectacular metal flower and I LOVE it! It will be gracing a project very soon!


And Noon we had a Fiskateer Meet Up at the CHA Consumer Supershow. The Fiskateer Leads were all there and shared limited edition punches and goodies for all of us (thanks again!)


A very nice bartender took this lovely group shot for us! It's always fun to meet other like minded people :)


After helping a few friends disassemble their booth we headed out for the Split Coast Stampers event! We got to meet even MORE wonderful people and make some new friends too!

All in all, another amazing CHA experience!!! Now, since you've managed to read this far I would like to give away some GOODIES!!!! Hmm... I'm thinking some Westcott Brand Scissors... so if you want 'em just make sure you are a blog follower and leave me a comment! I will give you an extra entry if you share it on your Facebook or Twitter page too (make sure to leave the linky to that post in your second comment)! In addition, if you subscribe to my blog (there's a box on the top right side column) and leave me a comment letting me know you did you will get a THIRD entry! So that's up to THREE comments per person. *edited* I will close the contest on Tuesday night at 11:59pm! Apparently blogger was having issues this weekend so I'm leaving open an extra two day :)